Events

Let Them Be Heard
June 7, 8, 14 and 15
One hour walking tours beginning at 7 pm, 8 pm, & 9 pm each night. Tickets: $10 each and are available for purchase online, by phone (919-620-0120), or in person at Stagville.
CLICK HERE for more information or to purchase tickets.

Juneteenth Celebration
June 8, 2013
10:oo am – 4:00 pm
 Juneteenth is considered to be the date the last enslaved people were freed. Stagville will celebrate emancipation on Saturday, June 8th with live performers, vendors, demonstrations, crafts, games, and food. Powerful performances of Let Them Be Heard, by the Bare Theatre Players will take place at 7, 8, and 9 P.M. on June 7th and 8th as well as encore performances June 14th and 15th. Tickets are $10 for the performances.

Jubilee Music Festival
July 13, 2013
10:oo am – 4:00 pm
Join Historic Stagville on Saturday, July 13th for a celebration of African American influences on music, specifically the blues and bluegrass. Enjoy live music at Horton Grove and visit the historic buildings and grounds for crafts and activities!

History Mythbusters
August 10, 2013
10:oo am – 4:00 pm
On August 10, 2013, Historic Stagville will be investigating and testing the many myths that are associated with historic homes and museums at the special event, “History Mythbusters!” Join us as we learn the truth about burning kitchens, fainting couches, killer corsets, and other popular historical misconceptions with Mary Theobald, author of Death by Petticoat: American History Myths Debunked. Take tours with staff at Historic Stagville of an 18th century planter’s home, an original slave quarter and original barn as we discuss the many misconceptions about our past and what we can learn from facts that aren’t quite true.

PAST EVENTS:

Learning the Land: Exploring the Old Indian Trading Path

April 20, 2013
10 a.m. – 4 p.m.

Long before cars and highways crossed our landscape, the main thoroughfare through Durham County was the Old Indian Trading Path. Native Americans, and later early colonial settlers, used this path for trade from Georgia to Virginia , and today remnants of the Trading Path can still be seen near Historic Stagville.
Join historians and costumed interpreters at Stagville State Historic Site as we explore the Trading Path and its importance during the 1700s. Guided tours will be offered by the Trading Path Association, members of the Occaneechi tribe will demonstrate Native American material culture, and living historian merchants will be displaying and selling 18th and 19th century trade goods.
This event is free and open to the public. Space is limited for Trading Path tours. Call today to reserve a spot for a tour. (919) 620-0120 or email info@stagville.org.

Stagville Under the Stars
Friday, February 22, 2013
6:30-8:30 PM

Reach for the stars and explore the night sky with Historic Stagville on Friday, February 22, 2013 from 6:30pm to 8:30pm. To celebrate Black History Month, Historic Stagville is partnering with Morehead Planetarium to present a stellar program that focuses on the astronomy and night sky myths and legends told in African cultures, as well as the related stories told by scientists today.
The program will begin with storytelling and after that, guests can step inside the original structures from the 1700 and 1800s with interpreters and learn about lives of enslaved people. Peer through the Planetarium’s telescopes at the Moon and Jupiter!
The program will wrap up with a constellation tour looking at the same stars as our ancestors. Expand your universe, bring your friends and family, and observe the sky.

Earlie E. Thorpe Memorial Lecture

“Information is Wanted: Searching for African American Families During and After the Civil War”
Sunday, October 21, 2012
2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Stagville will welcome Dr. Heather Williams, Professor of History at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, to deliver this year’s Earlie E. Thorpe Memorial Lecture. Dr. Williams recently published Help Me To Find My People: The African American Search for Family Lost in Slavery. Dr. Williams uses slave narratives, letters, interviews, public records, and diaries to guide readers back to devastating moments of family separation during slavery when people were sold away from parents, siblings, spouses, and children. She is also the author of Self-Taught: African American Education in Slavery and Freedom. This annual lecture at Historic Stagville is given in honor of Dr. Thorpe, an important scholar of the history of African Americans, who taught atNorth CarolinaCentralUniversityfrom 1962 to 1989.

This program is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served.

Stagville under the Stars 
Friday August 24,2012
8:00pm to 10:00pm
Stagville will partner with Morehead Planetarium again this summer! This program will feature storytelling, focusing on astronomy and night sky myths and legends from African cultures, as well as the related stories told by scientists today. Storytelling will be followed by telescope viewing of the Moon, Saturn, and Mars; and a “constellation tour” led by Morehead educators, viewing the same stars as our ancestors.

Original slave quarters from the 1800s will be lit by lantern for nighttime exploration, with historic interpreters answering questions about the lives of enslaved people who lived and worked at Stagville. No reservations are needed; this program is free and open to the public. Bring a flashlight and a blanket. Then simply sit back and relax!

Children’s Author: Kelly Starling Lyons
Saturday August 11, 2012
1:00pm to 2:00pm
How did history inspire a picture book? Find out as children’s book author Kelly Starling Lyons shows a slideshow of images and shares how her picture book, Ellen’s Broom, was inspired by African-American history and genealogy research. Then, she takes kids on an inspiring tour of her writing process from story idea to publication. She gives them a peek at her first draft, revisions and engages them in discussing why particular editorial decisions were made. The session ends with a song, reading and Q&A.

Jubilee Music Festival
Saturday July 14, 2012
11:00am to 4:00pm
A celebration of African American influences on music including traditional West African drumming, bluegrass, and blues. Also enjoy crafts, games, and food.
Performance Schedule:
11:00, FOG
12:00, Shelton Powe
1:00, John Dee Holeman
2:00, Boo Hanks
3:00, Ironing Board Sam

Learn about some of these artists and more through the Music Maker Relief Foundation.

Juneteenth Festival & Lantern Tours
Saturday June 9, 2012
1:00pm to 9:00pm
Festival
1:00pm to 9:00pm
Juneteenth is considered to be the date the last enslaved people were freed. Stagville will celebrate emancipation and the African American cultural experience through music, vendors, demonstrations, crafts, games, and food.
“Let Them Be Heard” Lantern Tours
7:00pm, 7:30pm, 8:00pm, and 8:30pm
Tour original slave quarters at night, and hear the voices of our state’s ancestors. Stagville welcomes Bare Theatre as they bring to life the story of Stagville through the re-enactment of North Carolina Slave Narratives. Tickets are $10.00 and will go on sale May 1, 2012. This is a walking tour and registration is recommended. Due to the nature of these narratives this particular program is not recommended for young children. Help support Bare Theatre’s project.

Busy Busy Bee Fundraiser
Thursday, May 3, 2012
5:30pm to 8:30pm
Come to the Busy Bee, and bring your friends for a night of fun and socializing. Carpenter Real Estate is hosting an event to help raise awareness and funds for Historic Stagville. The event will feature Brenda Scott’s Photography from her Stagville: Black & White project. If you have not seen these photos make sure and check out her website, they are truly beautiful.

The event will be held upstairs in the Hive,225 South Wilmington Street,RaleighNC,27601.  We are going to have complimentary beer from Mystery Brewing Co., a new brewery out of Hillsborough,NC. The recommended donation is $20. When you donate you are automatically entered into a raffle to win one of Brenda Scott’s photos of Stagville!

Civil War Sesquicentennial Lecture: To Free a Family
Sunday, February 12, 2012 -2:00pm to 4:00pm-FREE!
Stagville welcomes Dr. Sydney Nathans, Professor Emeritus of History with Duke University. His most recent publication, To Free a Family: The Journey of Mary Walker is available February 2012. This book explores the story of Mary Walker, an enslaved woman at Stagville plantation who in August 1848 fled the Bennehan/Cameron family for refuge in the North and spent the next seventeen years trying to recover her family. Mary Walker was not reunited with her family until the end of the Civil War. Mary Walker’s journey, To Free a Family brings an often untold story of the Civil War era to life. This program is free and open to the public.

Stagville Under the Stars!
Saturday, February 18, 2012 -7:30pm to 9:30pm-FREE!
Stagville will partner with Morehead Planetarium again to celebrate Black History Month! We will begin inside with storytelling focusing on the astronomy and night sky myths and legends told in African cultures. Step inside original structures from the 1700s and 1800s where interpreters can answer questions about the lives of enslaved people or peer through the planetariums telescopes at Mars, Jupiter, and maybe even Venus (view permitting)! The program will wrap up with a constellation tour looking at the same stars as our ancestors. Fun for the whole family! Expand your universe, bring your friends and family, and observe the sky. This program is free and open to the public.

“Christmas in the Big House, Christmas in the Quarters”
Saturday, December 3, 2011
11:00am to 4:00pm
Come celebrate the holidays at Historic Stagville Saturday. “Christmas in the Big House, Christmas in the Quarters,” one of our largest annual events, allows guests to see and take part in traditions that were part of Christmas celebrations for both the planter family and the enslaved community. We recreate the experience of holiday festivities through vendors, artisans, decorations, crafts, games, food, and music. This event is free and open to the public. Visitors can walk through an 18th century plantation home decorated for the holidays and original slave quarters from the 1850s as they hear traditional music, support their local artists, and buy holiday gifts.

Stagville Under the Stars!
Thursday, June 9, 2011 -8:30pm to 10:00pm-FREE!
To kick off our summer events Stagville will partner with Morehead Planetarium presenting a program that focuses on the astronomy and night sky myths and legends told in African cultures, as well as the related stories told by scientists today. Step inside original slave quarters from the 1850s where interpreters can answer questions about the lives of enslaved people or peer through the planetariums telescopes at the Moon and Saturn. The program will wrap up with a constellation tour looking at the same stars as our ancestors. Fun for the whole family! Expand your universe, bring your blankets, and observe the sky.

Earlie E. Thorpe Memorial Lecture
Sunday, October 16, 2011
2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Dr. Malinda Maynor Lowery, Assistant Professor of History at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, will deliver this year’s Earlie E. Thorpe Memorial Lecture at Historic Stagville. Dr. Lowery recently published Lumbee Indians in the Jim Crow South: Race, Identity, and the Making of a Nation (University of North Carolina Press). This annual lecture at Historic Stagville is given in honor of Dr. Thorpe, an important scholar of the history of African Americans, who taught at North Carolina Central University from 1962 to 1989. Dr. Lowery’s lecture will focus on the history of the Lumbees in North Carolina, including a discussion of Henry Berry Lowry, who led a multiracial band of outlaws during the Civil War and Reconstruction.
The program is free and open to the public. In addition to the lecture the jazz band Quintessence, led by Quinton Parker, will perform. Refreshments will be served.